JP2004072275A - Information supply system and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information supply system for supplying optimum information by appropriately sharing picture display and voice output and to provide a control method of the system. <P>SOLUTION: A master machine 110 acquires web contents 120 through a network 121, separates the acquired contents into a display content and a voice output content in an output data conversion part 114 and transmits the display content and voice data generated based on the voice output content in a voice synthesis part 115 to a slave machine 100. In the slave machine 100, received display data is displayed in a browser 102 and voice is outputted based on voice data in a voice output part 105. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information providing system capable of browsing information on a screen and reading out information by voice, and a control method thereof.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a system for browsing information using the WWW (World Wide Web) has widely spread as an infrastructure in society. At the time of browsing information, software that is generally called a browser is used, and a GUI (Graphical User Interface) is displayed on a screen to search for information to be browsed.
[0003]
Also, a so-called voice browser that acquires information by reading out web content using a voice synthesis technology is being put into practical use. This voice browser can be used by a visually impaired person or as a means for acquiring information by telephone.
[0004]
Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-117692 discloses a technique of setting which part of content is read out from an external access device, and synthesizing and outputting the set content. In this technology, the user has means for designating a portion to be subjected to speech synthesis output (speech) in the content, and further includes a "text", a "link", and a "title". It has means to specify the type.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the external access device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-11792, only the content to be read out is designated, and information provision using a GUI in the external access device is not considered. The access device itself did not function as an information providing device.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem, and has as its object to provide an information providing system that provides optimal information by appropriately using screen display and audio output, and a control method thereof. .
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
As one means for achieving the above object, the information providing system of the present invention has the following configuration.
[0008]
That is, an information providing system including a first device and a second device, wherein the first device includes: an information data acquisition unit configured to acquire information data from an external device; Separating means for separating the data into audio output data, audio synthesizing means for generating audio data based on the audio output data, and transmitting means for transmitting the display data and the audio data to the second device. The second device has a receiving unit that receives the display data and the audio data from the first device, a display unit that displays the display data, and converts the audio data into audio. And audio output means for outputting.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0010]
<First embodiment>
The external access device disclosed in JP-A-2001-11792 shown in the above-mentioned conventional example can be assumed as a slave unit in a cordless FAX machine in which the master unit and the slave unit are wirelessly connected.
[0011]
In this case, when browsing the web content in the child device, it is desirable to use both the display by the display unit and the voice reading aloud. That is, if the size of the display unit of the slave unit is large, the displayed information can be obtained at a glance, so that the screen output is easier for the user to obtain the information than the voice output. Conversely, if the size of the display unit of the slave unit is small, a method of limiting the type of information to be displayed and outputting information not to be displayed by voice may be considered.
[0012]
The optimum display method also changes depending on the amount of content to be displayed on the slave unit. In other words, when the amount of content is small, it is effective not to use the audio output as the entire screen output, but when the amount of content is large, only part of the information is output to the screen, It is desirable to output audio.
[0013]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, for the purpose of realizing more optimal information provision in the slave unit, the visual display using the GUI and the audio output are used together, and the output method is determined based on the size of the display unit and the content amount. . This makes it easier for the user of the slave unit to obtain information.
[0014]
System Configuration In the present embodiment, a child device of a so-called cordless parent-child telephone in which the parent device and the child device are wirelessly connected will be described below as an information output device according to the present embodiment.
[0015]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a Web browsing function part of the cordless FAX machine according to the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a slave unit having a browser for displaying a GUI and a speaker for outputting sound, and 110 denotes a network connection function for information acquisition, an information acquisition function, a speech synthesis function, and the like. Is the parent machine that contains Master device 110 and slave device 100 are connected by some kind of communication line (wireless, wired, or the like), and can exchange information with each other. Reference numeral 120 denotes content, which corresponds to, for example, a web page described in HTML. Reference numeral 121 denotes a communication line such as a network.
[0016]
The slave unit 100 includes an instruction input unit 101 for inputting an instruction by a user such as a button, a browser 102 for realizing a GUI by screen display, a signal separation / synthesis unit 103 for separating content data into display data and audio data, and a master unit. A signal transmission / reception unit 104 for transmitting and receiving signals, an audio output unit 105, and a speaker (or headphones) 106 for actually outputting audio. The instruction input unit 101 may be a pointing device such as a mouse, a pen, a touch screen, a keyboard, a button, a soft keyboard, or any other input method that can be generally used in the browser 102. Is also good.
[0017]
The parent device 110 includes a content reception / request transmission unit 111 for receiving and requesting the content 120 via the network 121, a content amount calculation unit 112 for calculating the received content amount, the calculated content amount and the browser 102 in the slave device. Content size / display size storage unit 113 for storing display size information, output data conversion unit 114 for converting the form of received content 120 into, for example, display content and audio content, and based on audio content. It includes a voice synthesizing unit 115 for performing voice synthesis, a signal separating / synthesizing unit 116 for multiplexing display content and voice data, and a signal transmitting / receiving unit 117 for transmitting / receiving signals to / from a slave unit.
Information Output Processing Hereinafter, the information output processing in the present embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of acquiring external content and providing the content to a user in the present embodiment.
[0018]
Acquisition of Content First, in step S100, a user input event in the slave unit 100 is acquired. Specifically, when there is a user input from the instruction input unit 101, the browser 102 receives the user input, and generates a request for acquiring the content according to a transmission instruction from the user.
[0019]
Next, in step S101, the generated request is transmitted to the parent device. Specifically, the request for content acquisition generated in step S100 is first sent to signal separation / combination section 103. Here, when transmitting a request, since there is no need for signal combining, the request signal simply passes through. Then, the request signal is transmitted to the signal transmitting / receiving section 104 according to the communication procedure between the parent device 110 and the child device 100. Device 110.
[0020]
Next, at step S102, the master unit 110 receives the request transmitted from the slave unit 100. Specifically, a request signal transmitted from child device 100 to parent device 110 is received by signal transmitting / receiving section 117 of parent device 110.
[0021]
In step S103, a request is transmitted via the network 121. Specifically, the request signal received in step S102 is sent to the content reception / request transmission unit 111 via the signal separation / synthesis unit 116, and the network 121 and the communication procedure suitable for acquiring the content 120 are performed according to the following procedure. Request is sent. As the communication procedure, an http protocol or the like is used when accessing web contents.
[0022]
Then, in step S104, the content 120 specified by the user is obtained according to the transmitted request. That is, the request transmitted from child device 100 to parent device 110 in step S 102 reaches designated content 120 via network 121, and the information is obtained and received by content reception / request transmission section 111 of parent device 110. Is done. The information received here is, for example, text data in a description language such as HTML or XHTML if the content 120 is a web page.
[0023]
Next, in step S105, the capacity of the content acquired in step S104 is calculated, and the calculation result is stored. First, the content received by the content reception / request transmission unit 111 is sent to the content calculation unit 112 to calculate the data amount, and the calculation result is stored in the content amount / display size storage unit 113. Here, the content amount can be variously defined, such as the size of the image, the number of characters in the body, and the number of characters in the link. Here, the number of characters in the body is used.
[0024]
Here, FIG. 3 shows an example of content described in HTML. If the text in the anchor tag is not included in the text, in the example shown in the figure, "links", "on this page you can access various information", "we will inform the weather forecast nationwide The number of characters such as "You can search for information on connecting trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area." Is calculated as the content amount.
[0025]
Output Data Conversion In step S106, the output data conversion unit 114 converts the output data based on the content amount and the display size held in the content amount / display size storage unit 113. Here, among the contents held in the content amount / display size storage unit 113, the content amount is calculated in step S105, but the display size is a size that can be displayed in the browser 102 of the child device 100. The character size is stored in advance. Alternatively, when the slave 100 is connected to the master 110, the display size data may be automatically transmitted from the slave 100 to the master 110 and stored.
[0026]
In the present embodiment, each of the content amount and the display size may be referred to independently or may be referred to simultaneously. Hereinafter, specific examples of the reference method will be described.
[0027]
In the case where only the content amount is referred to, the output data conversion unit 114 of the master unit 110 performs data conversion by referring to only the content amount among the content amount and the display size held in the content amount / display size storage unit 113. Will be described.
[0028]
In this case, the output data conversion unit 114 sets a threshold value for the content amount, and when the content amount exceeds the threshold value, separates the content into audio output content and display content. On the other hand, when the content amount does not exceed the threshold, all of the contents are handled as display contents without separating the contents. By setting the threshold value to 0, the content is always separated into audio output content and display content. The threshold may be set by the user or may be set to a predetermined value in advance.
[0029]
Taking the content shown in FIG. 3 as an example, if the content amount exceeds the threshold, the content in FIG. 3 is separated into the display content in FIG. 4 and the audio content in FIG. Here, the content shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the browser 102 as shown in FIG. The display content shown in FIG. 4 after the content separation is displayed on the browser 102 as shown in FIG.
[0030]
In the content example shown in FIG. 3, the characters in the anchor tag are not regarded as the text, and are therefore extracted as display content. On the other hand, the characters in the <p> tag are regarded as the body and are extracted as audio contents. Also, instead of the characters in the <p> tag not being output as display content, the “*” symbol is output, but the “*” symbol need not be output.
[0031]
Here, as shown in a row 402 in FIG. 3, when an image and a link destination exist in the same anchor tag, an example in which an anchor tag including an image is output as it is as display content is shown in FIG. Alternatively, the display content may not include an image. In this case, the output data conversion unit 114 converts the content of the row 402 as follows, for example, so that no image is displayed.
<P><ahref="http://hogehoge/senden.html"> Link to image </a><//p>
[0032]
In the case where both the content amount and the display size are referred to, the output data conversion unit 114 of the master unit 110 performs data conversion with reference to both the content amount and the display size stored in the content amount / display size storage unit 113. Will be described.
[0033]
Since the display size in the present embodiment is the number of characters displayed on the browser 102, for example, if this is a and the content amount is b, for a predetermined function f (),
b> f (a)
Is satisfied, the output data conversion unit 114 separates the content. Here, the function f () may be, for example, a function that simply reduces a constant. Note that the content separation method is the same as the above-described data separation based on only the content amount, and thus the description is omitted here.
[0034]
As described above, the output data converter 114 separates the content 120 received by the base unit 110 into audio output content and display content, and sends the former to the audio synthesizer 115 and the latter to the signal separator / synthesizer 116. hand over.
[0035]
Voice Synthesis Next, in step S107, the voice synthesis unit 115 performs voice synthesis processing based on the audio output content output from the output data conversion unit 114.
[0036]
As described above, text data as shown in FIG. 5 is used as the audio output content of the present embodiment. This is converted into speech waveform data by a text-to-speech type synthesizing unit that converts text to speech, and sent to the signal separating / synthesizing unit 116. When performing this conversion, the speech speed may be changed according to the data amount. For example, it is conceivable to increase the utterance speed as the amount of audio output content increases.
[0037]
GUI Display and Voice Output in Slave Unit Next, in step S108, voice and text data are transmitted from master unit 110 to slave unit 100. At this time, the display content obtained by the output data conversion unit 114 and the audio waveform data obtained by the audio synthesis unit 115 are multiplexed by the signal separation / synthesis unit 116, and the multiplexed data is transmitted and received. It is sent to the unit 117. Then, a multiplexed signal of the display content and the audio waveform data is transmitted from the signal transmitting / receiving unit 117 to the slave unit 100 according to a predetermined communication procedure such as a so-called multimodal interface.
[0038]
In step S109, the multiplexed signal transmitted from master unit 110 is received by signal transmission / reception unit 104 of slave unit 100, and is separated into display content data and audio waveform data by signal separation / combination unit 103.
[0039]
Next, in step S110, the display content data separated by the signal separation / synthesis unit 103 is sent to the browser 102, so that text data is displayed. That is, the browser 102 receives, for example, data as shown in FIG. 4 and performs a display as shown in FIG. 7 on its display.
[0040]
In step S111, the audio output is performed by sending the audio waveform data separated by the signal separation / synthesis unit 103 to the audio output unit 105. The audio output unit 105 converts the audio waveform data into an analog audio waveform using a D / A converter, and outputs the analog audio waveform from the speaker 106.
[0041]
System Configuration by Software The configuration of the present embodiment is not limited to the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 1, but can be realized by software. FIG. 8 shows a configuration example when the present embodiment is realized by software. In the figure, reference numeral 200 denotes a slave unit, 210 denotes a master unit, and the contents 120 and the network 121 are the same as those in FIG.
[0042]
In the content reception / request transmission module 213 shown in the parent device 210 of FIG. 8, processing equivalent to that of the content reception / request transmission unit 111 shown in FIG. 1 is performed. Similarly, in the signal transmission / reception module 214 shown in FIG. 8, the same processing as the signal transmission / reception unit 117 shown in FIG. 1 is performed.
[0043]
Further, in the configuration shown in FIG. 8, the content amount calculation unit 112, the output data conversion unit 114, the speech synthesis unit 115, and the signal separation / synthesis unit 116 in the master unit 110 shown in FIG. Each function is realized by being held as a program in the 212 and the CPU 211 executing the program. Further, the content held in the content amount / display size storage unit 113 shown in FIG. 1 is held in the memory 212 in FIG. Here, the memory 212 may be in any form such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, an FD, a flash memory, etc., as long as they are generally used in a computer. A plurality of memory media such as a ROM, a RAM, and a hard disk may be used in combination.
[0044]
Although the present embodiment has been described by taking as an example a system including one master unit and one slave unit, the present embodiment can be implemented by a similar method even when a plurality of slave units are provided. is there.
[0045]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, by optimizing the output method using a GUI or audio according to the size of the display unit in the slave unit and the amount of content to be displayed, information in an optimal form for the user is provided. Offers can be made.
[0046]
Further, by enabling the user to set the thresholds for the display size and the content amount, the user can customize the output method to be optimal for the user.
[0047]
<Second embodiment>
Hereinafter, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described.
[0048]
In the first embodiment described above, when the audio output of the received content and the GUI are used together, the positional relationship between the currently read content and the displayed content is not particularly considered. Therefore, the second embodiment is characterized in that the user can easily grasp the relative positional relationship between the two.
[0049]
Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG.
[0050]
In the second embodiment, when speech is synthesized by the speech synthesizer 115 of the base unit 110, output data is generated for each sentence, and predetermined information indicating a break between sentences (hereinafter, referred to as “sentence”) is provided between sentences. (Referred to as break information).
[0051]
Further, the audio output unit 105 of the child device 100 sends a predetermined start signal to the browser 102 at the start of the audio output. Upon receiving the start signal, the browser 102 blinks, for example, “*” corresponding to the first row 501 in FIG.
[0052]
When the audio output unit 105 detects the above-mentioned break information during audio output, the audio output unit 105 sends the break information to the browser 102 while synchronizing with the audio utterance. Upon receiving the break information, the browser 102 blinks the next “*” corresponding to the row 502 shown in FIG. As described above, by blinking “*” sequentially while synchronizing with the voice utterance, the relative positional relationship between the content being read and the content being displayed can be easily grasped.
[0053]
In the second embodiment, the example in which the “*” symbol blinks in the display order has been described. However, when the “*” symbol is present in the anchor tag, the voice utterance and the blinking of the “*” symbol are shifted. It is possible that To avoid such a problem, a special tag may be inserted beside the “*” symbol when the output data conversion unit 114 outputs the display content. In this case, the browser 102 does not display the special tag. When the "*" symbol is made to blink, only the "*" symbol following the special tag may be made to blink.
[0054]
In the same manner, when reading out the link portion, the link to be read out can be highlighted. Also, when the browser detects the special tag, the text is circulated from right to left by synchronizing the content enclosed with the special tag with the audio output as shown in FIG. 9 when the browser detects the special tag. Can be displayed as follows.
[0055]
As described above, according to the second embodiment, when performing content output using both voice output and the GUI, the relative positional relationship between the currently read content and the displayed content is easily grasped. be able to.
[0056]
<Third embodiment>
Hereinafter, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described.
[0057]
In the above-described first embodiment, an example has been described in which content output is performed only in the child device, but in the third embodiment, an example in which content output is similarly performed in the parent device will be described.
[0058]
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a parent-child telephone according to the third embodiment. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 1 shown in the above-described first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.
[0059]
The configuration shown in FIG. 10 is characterized in that a browser 919 and an audio output unit 921 are also provided in master device 910. In the parent device 910 of the third embodiment, as in the content output processing in the child device 100, the audio output by the speaker 920 and the browser 919 are performed based on the audio output content and the display content obtained by the output data conversion unit 114. Is displayed.
[0060]
However, in the third embodiment, since it is assumed that the display size of the browser is different between the parent device 910 and the child device 100, the content amount / display size storage unit 913 in the parent device 910 stores the browser of the child device 100. It is necessary to previously store the display sizes of both the browser 102 and the browser 919 of the master unit 910. The output data conversion unit 914 refers to the display size of the browser 919 when creating display content for the parent device 910, and refers to the display size of the browser 102 when creating display content for the slave device 100. refer.
[0061]
As described above, according to the third embodiment, similarly to the child device, the parent device can provide information in a form optimal for the user by using the display by the browser and the audio output together.
[0062]
<Other embodiments>
The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a speaker, a printer, etc.), but can be applied to a device including one device (for example, a telephone, a facsimile device, etc.). May be applied.
[0063]
Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus to store the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading out and executing the program code stored in the.
[0064]
In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
[0065]
As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, and the like can be used.
[0066]
When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where a part of the actual processing is performed and the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.
[0067]
Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided on a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.
[0068]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide optimal information by appropriately using screen display and audio output.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a parent-child phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an information output process according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of content content acquired in the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of converted display content according to the embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of converted audio output content according to the embodiment;
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of content acquired in the embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of display content according to the embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a parent-child telephone when the present embodiment is realized by software.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example of display content according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a parent-child telephone according to a third embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 CPU
102 Main memory 103 SCSI I / F
104 Network I / F
105 HDD
106 Graphic accelerator 107 Color monitor 108 USB controller 109 Color printer 110 Keyboard / mouse controller 111 Keyboard 112 Mouse 113 LAN
114 PCI bus

Claims (12)

An information providing system comprising a first device and a second device,
The first device comprises:
Information data acquisition means for acquiring information data from an external device;
Separating means for separating the acquired information data into display data and audio output data,
Voice synthesis means for generating voice data based on the voice output data,
Transmitting means for transmitting the display data and the audio data to the second device,
The second device comprises:
Receiving means for receiving the display data and the audio data from the first device;
Display means for displaying the display data,
Audio output means for outputting the audio data as audio,
An information providing system comprising: 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein said information data acquiring means acquires web content described in a predetermined description language via a network as said information data. The information providing system according to claim 2, wherein the separating unit separates the web content into display content and audio content according to a type of a tag in the description language. The first device further comprises:
Data amount calculation means for calculating the data amount of the acquired information data;
Holding means for holding the data amount,
2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the separation unit changes a ratio between the display data and the audio output data based on a data amount held in the holding unit. The holding unit further holds display size information on the display unit of the second device,
5. The information providing system according to claim 4, wherein the separating unit changes a ratio between the display data and the audio output data based on the data amount and the display size information. The first device further comprises:
Display means for displaying the display data,
Audio output means for outputting the audio data as audio,
The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising: 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the voice synthesizing unit changes a generation speed of the voice data according to a data amount of the voice output data. In the first device, the voice synthesis unit inserts a special tag at a predetermined position of the voice data,
In the second device,
The sound output means, when detecting the special tag during the output of the sound data, outputs information of the special tag to the display means,
2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the display data in synchronization with the information on the special tag. A method for controlling an information providing system including a first device and a second device,
In the first device,
An information data acquisition step of acquiring information data from an external device,
A separating step of separating the acquired information data into display data and audio output data,
A voice synthesis step of generating voice data based on the voice output data,
Transmitting the display data and the audio data to the second device,
In the second device,
A receiving step of receiving the display data and the audio data from the first device;
A display step of displaying the display data;
An audio output step of outputting the audio data as audio,
A method for controlling an information providing system, comprising: A program which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to operate as the first device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A program which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to operate as the second device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A recording medium on which the program according to claim 10 or 11 is recorded.

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